The Stepanovs and Hajo Seppelt receive the Play the Game Award

On the last day of Play the Game 2017, the biennial Play the Game Award was shared between Yulia and Vitaly Stepanov as well as Hajo Seppelt for their uncovering of the unprecedented doping conspiracy among Russian and international sports leaders.

In December 2014, German television showed secret video and audio recordings, eyewitness testimonies and documents that uncovered a sensational conspiracy among Russian and international sports leaders engaged in corrupt alliances and the manipulation of doping testing.

The broadcast triggered a series of reports, investigations and further TV documentaries on what is now regarded as an unprecedented doping fraud that completely changed the public view on international sport and anti-doping.

On the last day of Play the Game 2017, held in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, the two whistleblowers Yulia and Vitaly Stepanov, as well as the investigative journalist Hajo Seppelt, received the Play the Game Award 2017 for their part in pulling aside “the curtains that were hiding the truth” and putting “international sport and anti-doping organisations worldwide to work”.

“You have shown us what can be achieved with personal courage, unwavering commitment and tireless efforts, and you fully deserve the Play the Game Award 2017 and a round of applause,” Play the Game’s International Director, Jens Sejer Andersen, said in his motivation speech.

The Stepanovs were not present in Eindhoven, but accepted the award connected via a video-link from the US.

In his speech, Jens Sejer Andersen praised the Stepanovs for being symbols of the highest ethical practices in sport despite huge personal costs after becoming whistleblowers:

“You gathered, over a long period of time, convincing documentation through secret audio and video recording, in spite of the obvious personal risks. And you decided to come forward and step out of anonymity with your eyewitness accounts in Western TV; knowing well that this might lead to accusations of being renegades and national traitors, and provoke negative reactions from the public, the authorities, colleagues, friends and family - as it has certainly also happened in an unprecedented scale.”

To Hajo Seppelt, Jens Sejer Andersen said:

“Your work was carried out while observing the highest standards of the journalistic profession. It is always a temptation for a journalist to spice the story up with a little more drama than the documentation can necessarily bear, but you always let the documentation speak almost for itself, with shortness and sharpness that matches the TV format very well.”

The recipients of the award were decided by the governing board of Play the Game and the Danish Institute for Sports Studies.

More about the Play the Game Award

The Play the Game Award pays tribute to an individual or a group of persons who in their professional careers or as volunteers in sport have made an outstanding effort to strengthen the basic ethical values of sport.

The award consists of a piece of graphic art made by the Danish tennis champion, musician, writer and artist Torben Ulrich supplemented by an invitation for the next Play the Game conference with all expenses paid.

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Previous Play the Game Award winners

2015: Bob Munro and Mathare Youth Sports Association for their efforts to create sustainable social progress and their courageous battle against corruption in sport.Read more

2013: Richard W. Pound, Canadian IOC member and former WADA president, received the Play the Game Award 2013 for his uncompromising efforts in the fight for a cleaner and more democratic sports movement.Read more

2011: Andrew Jennings (UK) and Jens Weinreich (Germany) for their tireless work documenting and bringing the enormous levels of mismanagement and corruption in the world's leading sports organisations into public view.Read more

2009: Declan Hill, Canadian PhD and author, for his groundbreaking research and documentation of the realities of match fixing.Read more

2007: Sandro Donati, Italy, for his courage and determination in revealing cases of doping and corruption in Italian and international sport and for his tenacity in researching the links between doping and international organised crime.Read more

2005: Mario Goijman, Argentina, for his courage and commitment in bringing to light the theft and corruption that has taken place in the International Volleyball Federation during the reign of FIVB-president Ruben Acosta.Read more

2002: Laura Robinson, Canadian journalist and author, for her courageous uncovering of systematic sexual abuse in Canadian junior hockey.Read more

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